Name Calling
by Arrow in my Back
Summary: Kid Flash finds Robin crying and offers to cheer him up with his own bully story. Wally/Dick friendship.


**Title**: Name Calling

**Rating**: K

**Word Count**: 1,443

**Summary**: Kid Flash finds Robin crying and offers to cheer him up with his own bully story.

**A/N**: My friend and I refer to us as Kid Flash and Robin, and whenever I call my friend Rudolph (she's KF), she gets angry. So here's to you, KF~ and guys, if you know anybody who's getting bullied and you want to do something about it, please don't just sit there and wait for someone else to do it. Sometimes the person is too scared to go to an adult or to a teacher and if the bullying gets worse, that person might opt to take their life. If you get bullied and you can't simply ignore it, please tell someone about it. I've been there and done that and things seriously do get better.

xxx

Mount Justice was as normal as it was any other day—M'Gann was in the kitchen cooking up a storm, Superboy was sitting in the living room watching his favourite tv show of static, Kaldur was in the pool swimming around, Artemis was practicing her bow skills, and Robin was... where was Robin? Kid Flash scratched the back of his head as he made his way down the hall to the bedrooms. While they were only really occupied by M'Gann and Superboy, the other heroes had rooms of their own just in case they needed a place to stay, and Wally was surprised to hear a faint sobbing coming from one of the rooms farther down the hall.

He stepped into the room through the crack of the door only to be met with Robin's small form, hunched over and sitting on the edge of the plain bed, his back facing Wally's. It was obvious that Robin was crying, even without the small sobs. His shoulders were shaking and he was slightly rocking himself forward and backward, his mask lying uselessly beside him on the bed.

"Rob...?" Wally asked, a bit hesitant. It wasn't for the fact that he's never seen his friend maskless before—let's face it, he was the only one who ever got to see those baby blue eyes on their team—but after how many years of knowing him, he's never seen him cry. He's seen the thirteen year old beaten to a bloody pulp but not once did a tear slip from under his mask or a sob, and Wally wasn't sure if Robin would ever want his best friend to see him this way.

"Wally...?" Robin sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his hand before reaching for his mask. His voice sounded so... weak and fragile, and Wally frowned at the sound of it. The redhead stepped forward. "Are you alone...?"

"Yeah," He responded quietly and slowly sat down beside him on the edge of the bed, draping his arm around Robin's small shoulders and pulling him closer to his side. It was something that his uncle Barry would do when Wally was upset and he hoped that it would comfort Robin in the same way it did him. "Mind telling me what's wrong, buddy?"

Robin set the mask down in his lap and found it a lot more appealing to look at than Wally's caring green eyes. He leaned into the touch and rested his head against the older boy's chest. "You know how my name is Richard, right?"

"Uh-huh." Wally replied and nodded.

"And you know how, for some ungodly reason, the nickname Dick is used for people with the name Richard...?"

"Yep."

Robin let out a sigh. "Well... the kids at my school, they're picking on me for getting called Dick. They keep saying 'hello little Dick' and really... gross things because of it, and it used to be a once in awhile thing, but now they're just harassing me. It's not as bad as the time when I got teased for my height because as I get older, I know I'm going to grow and so I know it's going to change, but Wally... I can't change my name, and it hurts going into class everyday with someone saying it like they're making fun of me."

The Boy Wonder began letting out small sobs again and he shook his head, tears running down his cheeks. Wally watched him in silence, feeling so terrible having to witness his best friend, who's never shown anyone his tears before, let them fall freely over something so... so trivial, so mean. He knew how big of an effect what your peers say about you does to a person, but he was Kid Flash damnit! His job was to save people and what good was he if he couldn't make his best friend feel better?

Suddenly, it was as if a light bulb went off at the top of his head, and he hugged him a little tighter against him. "Well... can I tell you a secret? It's sort of like you and your ID, this secret... but you have to swear on your life that you won't tell it to anybody, okay?"

Robin blinked away tears and wiped away any remaining ones from his cheeks. "Y-yeah, okay, sure..."

"So, you obviously know my name, Wally West. But... you don't know my full name, do you?" The redhead asked and Robin shook his head. He took in a breath. "Well... my full name is Wallace Rudolph West. Yeah, yeah, I know. _Rudolph_. When I was born, my dad wanted me to be named after him so he could call me Ruddy Jr., but my mom didn't want that so they compromised and stuck it as my middle name.

"Anyway, back in elementary school before I had my powers or anything, I was a... pretty nerdy kid. I was always good at science, I dressed like a total geek—suspenders and all—and my parents would pick me up after school from the playground. One day I was arguing with some older kids that wanted to destroy this sandcastle I made in the sand box—it was _awesome_, with a moat and _everything_—and my parents were calling for me to get in the car so I could go home. Now, my mom is the mom that yells out your full name when you don't listen to her, so she screamed out 'Wallace Rudolph West, get into this car right now!'

"The kids that were threatening to destroy my sandcastle burst out into tears from laughing so hard and repeated my full name at least a thousand times; like it was a joke that got funnier each time they said it. I was so embarrassed I actually started crying and I couldn't even begin to describe how red my face was. I took off running to the car and hurled myself in the back seat, and my mom kept asking me what was wrong and I just couldn't say anything because I was so embarrassed about what happened.

"Word got around and everyone then referred to me as 'Rudolph the Red Haired Reindeer', since I'm a ginger and that's just oh-so hilarious and punny. I can remember this one time in art class, one of the bullies from the playground incident splashed red paint on my face, and I almost punched him in the face. Luckily the teacher saw it and sent him to the principal's office while I got sent to the bathroom to clean my face off.

"The teasing never really stopped as I got older, but it did decrease. But you know what? I stopped letting it affect me. I started taking it as a joke and some of the kids started calling me Rudolph or Ruddy just as a funny nickname, and I was okay with it. But I moved away from that entire district during middle school and into a new one, so nobody calls me that anymore. The point I'm trying to make here, Rob—or should I say Dick?—is that everything is how you perceive it to be. If people are bothering you about your name, ignore it. Laugh with them. I know it's hard at first but dude, you're the Boy Wonder! You're way tougher than all of those guys bullying you combined. And if it's really bothering you, tell a teacher. Don't sit in the dark and just let it happen. You don't get anywhere in life just sitting there."

There was a long silence between them as Robin took in his words. He shook his head and said softly under his breath, "Wally..."

Uh oh. "Yeah, Rob?"

"That... was the probably the most whelming piece of advice you've ever given me." Robin—no, Dick—said and broke out into a large grin. He gave the older boy a hug and Wally squeezed his shoulder comfortingly. "Thanks, Wally. I really needed to hear that."

"Haha, no problem buddy. Just trying to help, y'know?" Kid Flash responded as the two got up and Robin placed his mask on his face once again. The familiar sound of M'Gann's voice echoed down the hall as she called for the two and Wally looked over his shoulder at the door.

"Yeah, yeah. Guess M'Gann's finished making whatever she was making and wants us to try it out. Catch me if you can... _Rudolph_."

"_Dude_!" Wally turned his gaze back to where Robin was standing just moments ago to find that he wasn't there anymore. "I _hate_ when he does that!"


End file.
